Missing three-year-old boy found dead in well

There was pandemonium at Evbiogun Street at Upper Sakponba in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State when the corpse of a three-year-old boy identified as Clinton was discovered in a well, 24 hours after his disappearance.

It was learnt that the little boy was with his parents on Tuesday before he left to play with his friends outside.

His family members were said to have raised the alarm when he did not return home and could not be found.

It was gathered that the situation prompted them to conduct a search for the boy around the compound, which turned out unsuccessful.

The incident was later said to have been reported at the Ugbekun and St. Saviour Police Divisions before the three-year-old boy’s lifeless body was discovered on Wednesday in a water reservoir, popularly known as a well, in front of the compound.

A large crowd of sympathisers, who gathered at the scene of the incident, were seen lamenting as his corpse was recovered.

The father of the deceased, who identified himself as David, said that he had gone to inform the police about the disappearance of his son when he was informed that he (Clinton) had been found dead in a well.

“We searched and searched but we did not see him. I went to St. Saviour (police station) to report. Unfortunately, in less than one hour, an alarm was raised that the baby was inside a well,” he said.

But some of the residents suspected a foul play in the death of the boy as his corpse did not suggest that he drowned in the well.

One of them said, “People have been fetching water from that well for drinking and bathing. But the late child’s stomach was not swollen. If he fell into the well, his corpse would have been swollen by the next day.”

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Stephen Onwochei, who neither confirmed nor dismissed the report, said that he could not comment on the incident on the telephone.

“It is not an issue we can discuss on the telephone. It is not an issue I can comment on now because I don’t know the matter you are talking about in particular,” Onwochei said on Friday.